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Author
Topic: Worried about Potential Risk (Read 11238 times)

I am new to this forum and though I had got a lot of information from other posts (for which I am very thankful to you guys) I still need some reassurance

The following is the situation

I visited a sex worker in frankfurt. I was given a condom by the sw and she performed oral sex on me. I did not have sex with her.

However I did finger her a bit, but i did not insert my finger into the vagina. It was more of the surface rubbing and all. However after doing that I took off the condom with my own hands.

Later once home after 30-35 minutes I remember touching the surface of my penis after withdrawing the foreskin with my hands. I had not washed my hands then. Further I have some red spots on the surface of my penis from a fungal infection which sometimes reappears

I immediately (within 3-4 minutes) had bath and cleaned my penis with a disinfectant soap.

I am just worried that at any point during the entire incident was I at risk of getting the virus. I am really very scared. Further the entire aspect of going to a sw makes me feel sick.

It has been 4 days since the incident. Should I be going ahead with a check in 6 or 12 weeks ?

What I was worried about is that can it be possible that the virus was on my hands after the fingering and when i touched my penis to take off the condom or when i touched the surface of the penis (on withdrawing the foreskin) which has signs of candida fungal the virus infected me ?

Additionally can you let me know how long can the virus sustain itself in air (that is on my hands)

Sorry for all these repeated questions and thanks for your pateince in replying the same

SR, HIV is a fragile virus and needs a very receptive environment to remain viable and be transmitted. None of the actions which you have described provide the means for transmission. The essential risk is unprotected intercourse whether vaginal or anal.

Please read the lesson on Transmission. You'll find a link to it in the Welcome thread which opens this section. You'll get all the basic information you need there and it will help spare you worrying needlessly as you are now.

You can fret all you want over this incident, but you were not at any risk and you certainly don't need to test over it.

I am wondering though about your activities with your regular partner. Have you two tested together before you stopped using condoms?

You need to be using condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, every time, no exceptions until such time as you are in a securely monogamous relationship where you have both tested for ALL STIs together. To agree to have unprotected intercourse is to consent to the possibility of being infected with a sexually transmitted infection. Sex with a condom lasts only a matter of minutes, but hiv is forever.

Have a look through the condom and lube links in my signature line so you can use condoms with confidence.

Anyone who is sexually active should be having a full sexual health care check-up, including but not limited to hiv testing, at least once a year and more often if unprotected intercourse occurs.

If you aren't already having regular, routine check-ups, now is the time to start. As long as you make sure condoms are being used for intercourse, you can fully expect your routine hiv tests to return with negative results. Don't forget to always get checked for all the other sexually transmitted infections as well, because they are MUCH easier to transmit than hiv.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

"Is guilt or shame about your having gone to a sex worker what's driving this totally unwarranted fear about HIV transmission? Just asking..."

Andy ,

I seriously dont know what it is and what I should do.

I think it's both the things that are bothering me. But from whatever everyone of you is telling me I am relaxed about the HIV part (Atleast I think I am). About the other part I think I need to do something on my own

Plus I keep getting these so called early symptoms to HIV infection. Atleast i think i am getting them. Sometimes i feel that my fingers are paining, Sometimes i feel like scratching on my back, then I take off my shirt to see if i have any rashes but there arent any. Sometimes i feel i have pain in one part of the body sometimes in another

I dont know whether these symptoms are real or my mind is playing games.

If these are true events do i need to actually worry ? Is there any risk at all. Even if this lady was HIV+, even then there is no risk ?

You arent going crazy. You ARE overly worried about this incident however. None of the things you described are symptoms of HIV infection.

Not to mention you were NEVER at risk. Your mind is playing some tricks on you. Try focusing on something other than HIV.

Logged

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

What we can tell you with assurance is that they have nothing to do with HIV. No matter what your mind says to the contrary, this is NOT an HIV situation. Period.

Go see your doctor for the blisters and such. Just because you don't know what's causing such things doesn't by default mean it's about HIV. In all the years to come are you going to assume that everything that happens to your body has to do with HIV?

I know that I've been repeatedly been told the same thing but these things are bothering me.

the red spots on the back of my tongue are still there. And the back of my tongue around these spots has a white coat.

I wanted to know are these by any means any of the ARS symptoms ?

Also I wanted to know that since during the window period the virus concentrations are so high in bodily fluids that a person is highly infectious why cannot virus particles be detected in fluids such as semen for conslusive testing?

its been 17 days now. I want to go in for the test but that happens only after 67 days

I know all my intelligence and education tells me that HIV is not transmitted in the events that I described. And despite being a guy educated in science I just cant come to terms with it.

the reason is that everything that happens to me makes me feel it is related to hiv. Now for the last three days I have been sweating in the nite, so much so that when i wake up in the morning i feel as if i have sweat a lot. For the last two days the joint in my left hand index finger has also been paining.

everything makes me think that these events are connected. Everynite i repeat to myself the words, "nothing i did puts me at risk" but things dont change. I am just petrified

The answer is NO. You arent that unlucky. I know it is hard to accept but you are negative. Night sweats and finger pains arent specifically related to HIV in any way. I urge you to seek the help of a mental health professional to ease your fears and help you move on with your life.

Logged

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

Rapid I know that how you would consider I am taking things and probably you would also get irritated that I come up every 5 days with something new.

But by now I have literally drowned in the fear of hiv that I am actually imagining that i definetely have it.

See the thing is that i am not imagining the things that are happening to me. I actually have a white tongue with red dots, i mean I can see it. I had pains in my body for a couple of days. I had headaches, night sweats and now this pus on my finger..

i have everything that i can possibly imagine. I sleep everynite trying to say to my self atleast 100 times that "this is not the way hiv is transmitted", and "i dont have hiv" but i just cant relax with all these things happening.

I take timeouts from this forum on my own for 3-4 days but then again something new happens...

i want to be convinced and i guess a test will prove that, but thats another 60 days away.

Thanks and really sorry for bothering you again and again. I thing i will now try to take a time off for a couple of weeks on my own.

I have tried like hell to get these thoughts out of my mind. I have not visited this site and other HIV related websites for nearly a month so that I dont think about HIV infection but in vain. My mind so much worried about HIV that I think about HIV nearly every hour of my day

I am still going mad. I went to a doctor and discussed my fears a month back. he too said that he beleived that i was a no risk but recommended that if i want i can test (but at three months). That day the doctor also observed that my BP was high

Well these things that one calls sympotms keep on appearing off and on. So in the last month or so i have had sweats at night (but the probably europe is getting very warm), i have also had a rash around the anus region. I have had rashes in that area in the past as well and probably because i am also suffering from ealry stages of piles for the last 6 months, the rashes may have appeared. And these rashes cause burning sensation on touch.

Are such rashes typical of ARS rashes ?

I have also been having headaches for the last three weeks.

tell me something about ARS symptoms, if at all they appear do they last for as long as 7 weeks ? because i have been experiencing things from since the 1st week of the incident i described earlier. And do ARS symptoms occur with the 1st week itself ? Do they all happen together or over period of time one after the other ?

I am scared shit. Can I do a test now ? Its will be exactly 8 weeks tomorrow

ARS symptoms come on all at once and leave all at once and generally last no longer than 1 weeks or so. They most commonly occur 2-4 weeks post exposure. They do not present themselves over a long period of time and nor do they show up in a consecutive manner over several weeks as you have described. Also, ARS rashes are on the torso, not your ass.

An 8 week test is a GREAT indicator of a 13 week result as all but a rare FEW will develop antibodies by week 6.

But you have been TOLD ALL OF THIS. You did not have a risk. So test whenever you like. It shall be negative.

Logged

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

For a person who has CONSIDERABLE risk (read that as NOT YOU) 13 weeks would be conclusive in the US.

For you, 81 is way conclusive. You didnt have a risk.

Logged

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

If a man or woman has an exposure and develops ARS like symptoms in two - three weeks (let us assume he actually does have some symptoms) that means the body has recognized the virus and started fighting it by developing antibodies.

That means having ARS should neccesary mean antibodies have been created and they should be detected in a test about 2-3 weeks after the symptoms appeared ?

is this true ? and can we can also infer that if the result gave a negative result then the symptoms were relating to something else happening in the body which should be investigated ?

NO it is not true, that being the reason for the 13 week test. You have to give the body enough time to build up antibodies for the tests to detect. Forget any thought of symptoms, symptoms don't mean squat when it comes to diagnosing HIV. I never had symptoms so that throws your theory out the window.

If a man or woman has an exposure and develops ARS like symptoms in two - three weeks (let us assume he actually does have some symptoms) that means the body has recognized the virus and started fighting it by developing antibodies.

That is potentially correct. However, the onset of symptoms may simply be a coincidence and the person could just be ill with something totally unrelated. And as Rodney said, many people have no symptoms at all yet are in the process of developing antibodies.

Quote

That means having ARS should neccesary mean antibodies have been created and they should be detected in a test about 2-3 weeks after the symptoms appeared ?

ARS is caused by the body's reaction to the creation of antibodies, not the virus itself. Typically, a test within a few days of actual ARS symptoms will return "inconclusive" results. Most people will test positive by two weeks after the onset of true ARS symptoms.

But it is VERY important to remember that not everyone has ANY noticeable symptoms. Symptoms or even the lack of symptoms mean nothing when it comes to diagnosing hiv.

Quote

can we can also infer that if the result gave a negative result then the symptoms were relating to something else happening in the body which should be investigated ?

Well, yeah, it's pretty obvious, isn't it? If a person experienced symptoms but tested hiv negative at the conclusive time of three months after a true risk, then something else was going on.

You are conclusively hiv negative. As you have been told, you didn't even have a risk and you can totally trust your result.

Make sure you always use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse and you will remain hiv negative.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

How on earth could anything that's going on with you have the slightest connection to hiv? You DO NOT HAVE hiv!

Not only have you tested conclusively hiv negative, but you NEVER HAD A RISK IN THE FIRST PLACE!

If you cannot move past this, you might want to seek counseling to enable you to do so. We cannot help you with that here and you will not be allowed to use this forum to wring your hands over your no-risk event followed by negative test results.

You ARE hiv negative. Use condoms for anal or vaginal intercourse, correctly and consistently and you'll stay that way.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Is there any risk in getting a hand job at the end of of a thai body massage. The massage lady had all her clothes on at all times ( ifcourse was 100% naked). She gave me a massage with the baby oil and ended it up massaging my penis and giving me a hand job at the end of which I ejaculated.

new incident, unrelated to the previous one --------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Ann, rapid and everyone else

A very small question.

Is there any risk in getting a hand job at the end of of a thai body massage. The massage lady had all her clothes on at all times ( ifcourse was 100% naked). She gave me a massage with the baby oil and ended it up massaging my penis and giving me a hand job at the end of which I ejaculated.